right about now



the sartorialist


Something somewhat akin to this is my dream outfit. If you just lengthen the dress a little to an inch or two above her grey socks and let's call it a day. All my favourite elements are here - an easy, breezy, slouchy as anything jacket, a belted tunic (I'd even accept the addition of a skirt to this outfit, actually, if you wanted to keep the shirt length as it is), bare legs and a pair of simple shoes. I even roll my ankle a little like this in photos of me, too. What I love most are the colours - the perfect mix of nutty browns and caramel-y toffees with a slash of washed out red. Slightly mannish, slightly gamine, all sophistication and elegance. I like how her sleeves have been rolled up - I never wear my jackets to their full length. And as someone who is loath to wear a pair of tights, bare legs are my best friend, even in the depths of winter I try and stick it out as much as I can. On me an outfit such as this would come out a little more mish-mash - I'm more likely to have my hair loose and ragged rather than pulled back and chic - but the overall goal is the same. An outfit that is easy, breezy and beautiful. Simple, with very little effort involved. Right about now, that's all I want. 

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cold comfort farm













my friend's photos.


The Australian farm - characterised by corrugated iron sheds, wide wrapping verandahs and wicker arm chairs. When suspended between two towering mountains on either side in a valley of swollen green the effect is very, very charming (albeit in the winter time very, very cold). just what I needed to get away from everything, the perfect antidote to the post uni burn out and the end of exam period blues. What mark will I get? Will i pass the course? all unimportant, really, in the grand scheme of things, when you have blue skies, green paddocks and white noise. The Blue Mountains are the most beautiful part of New South Wales, I think. It is countryside that is quintessentially Australian - flannel shirts and cows and lots and lots of green. To go with a great group of friends and just do nothing was the best thing ever. I can't wait to do it all again, as soon as possible!

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the still of night















sources: totally elle and the stephen dorff network

I am more excited for this than I can say, truly. Not the least because I've always liked Elle the best out of the Fanning sisters, not the least because it's time for a Stephen Dorff comeback (when isn't it?), not the least because it is set in one of the most fascinating, most remarkable hotels in the world - the Chateau Marmont, not the least because it is Sofia Coppola and I worship at her shrine alone with hundreds of other teenage girls, not the least because Phoenix made the soundtrack. But because after all the prince of persia, all the A-Team, all the glitz and glam of Sex and the City 2 and "Blockbuster"extravaganzas sometimes you need to strip it all back to the base elements - A camera and a subject. Sofia Coppola, whatever you might think of her, is a superb film-maker in that she can coax performances out of her actors that you never thought were in them. She works with her camera in such a way that makes you feel that you are watching - through a window, from afar - into the lives of these subjects. Like art in that way. Her film-making is simple, but arresting. Like i've said before - quite remarkable in the eager and wide-eyed, yet still incredibly calm way she navigates life, love and everything in between.  

I've been up in the Blue Mountains for the past few days, and there was no electricty, just a big fire and fetching our own water to cook and wash. I'm not saying I'd like to live like that all the time, but taking a break from it all - modernity, life, i suppose - reminds you of what, at the very heart of things, it is all about. And for three days we played cards, made our own dough for bread and pizza, learnt how to make origami boats and paper cranes and jammed with guitars on the verandah. I'm glad to be home, but while there I realised that it is the simple, easy things that are the best. Like cosy knits, like curling up and reading in front of a fire, like laughing from your belly at least once a day, like hanging out with those you really love. What I like about trips like this - and Sofia Coppola films - is that they make you celebrate everyday life, mundanity that is extraordinary in its ordinariness. You celebrate things like fires you built yourself, like drawing on your dad's plaster cast, like watching movies in bed. Sometimes I feel I want too much from life. I want fireworks and parties and 'The Grand Gesture'. Trips like these remind me to stop worrying and enjoy it all. 

like this film. Simple, but totally, completely perfect. 

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how do you wear it?


tfs, vanessa jackman

Mary-Kate Olsen uses it as a handbag, Alexa Chung takes hers to Glastonbury, Jacquelyn Jablonski lets her lend a helping hand to creating that perfect blend of model-off-duty-cool... Anyone who is anyone ha a Celine luggage tote, and looks damn good wearing it too. If I had one it would never leave the crook of my arm - my carry on luggage as I check into first class to Monte Carlo, my daily bag that I take to lunches and brunches and all things yummy,  and stuffed full with uni books when semester starts again and I am duty bound to classes. Sounds perfect to me! Now, if anyone has a spare $3000 lying around...

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Sports-Girl


The Sartorialist

One trend I can definitely get behind is the infiltration of sportswear into high fashion. The funny thing is, i'm not particularly sporty, but there's something so inviting about wearing your sporty separates - hoodies, sweatshirts, converse runners, track pants - with the rest of your crazy clothes. My favourite recent purchase is definitely my Bonds sweatshirt in the perfect grey marle. With the sleeves rolled up it goes perfectly with everything in my closet and provides the best neutral base for some of the crazier things I like to wear... If you look carefully at these pictures, you'll notice that the sportswear is almost indistinguishable from the high fashion. In the first picture, the hoodie just barely pokes out over the top of her tweed blazer. Maybe she added it for warmth? Or maybe she just likes the feel of the fleece against skin. That's the thing about sportswear - once you pop you can't stop. It really is addictive. Adding a hoodie for warmth is the first step down a road that includes wearing your tracksuit pants with this seasons must-have camel coat and clutch for a fashion show and then converse and a slouchy white tee with palazzo pants in the summer. I've recently started wearing my converse - scruffy and perfect - again, and I have to say there is something so fantastic about wearing shoes that let you really STOMP and RUN around. Ballet flats are all good and well, but sometimes real shoes are needed. Shoes that let you get things done.

Wearing your sportsgear outside of the gym or the running track used to be the biggest criminal offence in fashion. Now it is the height of chic to mix your bonds sweatshirt with an alaia skirt - just as Garance Dore, who wore a running shirt with red red lips and big hoop earrings to the Dolce and Gabbana fashion show last September. It's funny how fashion is constantly changing, but that's what makes it so interesting, of course. The biggest trick to mastering this trend is not going too crazy with matching jogging suits and all that. Just a hint of athletic will do the trick. And don't be afraid to mix it up - converse can be just as chic with pants as they can be with a midi length structured skirt, or an itty-bitty lace dress. Well... it's almost enough to make you want to go for a run, isn't it?

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bag it




pictures (in no order): the sartorialist, jak and jil, vanessa jackman, tfs, louis vuitton.

In fashion circles it seems like there are only three bags worth having. The first is Celine's itty bitty shoulder bag that comes with a hefty price tag. The second is Proenza Schouler's utilitarian dream boat - the PS1. And the third is Sofia Coppola for Louis Vuitton's satchel bag, part overnight-er, part chic tote, all class. It has that quintessential Sofia Coppola stamp of luxury and sophistication mixed with the french elegance of Louis Vuitton. It has a price tag well into the obscene - think $4500 US - but at the same time it has an allure that makes you consider, if you could just save up, if you could only forsake things like, ooh, a house, you could get one of these bags, and your life would be complete. 

I am not a bag lady, not by any stretch of the word, but lately I've been thinking a lot about bags. Perhaps it is because I work in the handbags section of a big department store here in Australia. Or perhaps it's just that, after years of just shoving everything I need into my pockets, I've come to realise that bags really are an important part of finishing an outfit. I see girls on the street whose bags are an extension of their style, whose bags provide an interesting counterpoint to what they already wear - a woman came into work yesterday in a simple black duffle coat and a wicker basket and canvas bag by miu miu, she was a regular alexa chung. Is a bag necessary to complete an outfit? No, by any means. But it does add a little something extra. It's like in exams when they say you are not obliged to use secondary material and extra sources, but you get extra marks if you do. Your bare bones outfit is perfectly fine without a great bag, but with one, it becomes extraordinary. 

Why do we love bags like Sofia Coppola's LV collaboration so much? I think it is because fashion is swinging against the extravagance and "look at me" nature of past seasons - those seasons when every LA starlet would swing a Balenciaga city from the crook of her elbow and those bags were being copied left right and centre by every chain store you can imagine. The interesting thing about the Sofia Coppola LV bags is that they are simple. Very simple. Unlike even the Celine and the PS1 bags they have really no distinctive characteristics other than their shape. They are just a bag. This makes them, by default, not interesting for copiers and fakers, who want the big ticket items like the Mulberry Alexa or the Chloe Paraty. This bag can slip under the radar so that, for those select few with the $4500 chump change, they can be something exclusive and unique. Without fakes flooding the market their value increases exponentially. 

More than this, we are looking for simplicity. This can be seen in the success of designers like The Row, Joseph Altuzarra and Haider Ackerman, who take simple silhouettes and give them subtle twists - the fish-tailed evening gown, the belted kimono style over-shirt, the rope sandal - so that they are both familiar and unrecognisable at the same time. We want to revisit the heyday of our minimalism - the 90s - but we don't want to relive them. We want to infuse them without our more modern sensibilities, with our ipads and our grande cappucinos. We want a duffel bag that isn't really a duffel bag, that is lined in the softest suede, that has the two characteristic piping lines running down the middle, that slouches perfectly and moulds to the shape of the body, that can be at once both sporty and sleek. We want a bag that multi tasks - gone were the days when we had different bags for different outfits. The modern bag should be casual enough to work with jeans and yet elegant enough that when you sling it across a cocktail dress you look chic, not sloppy. 

You can get all of this, I think, from the Celine bags, the Proenza Schouler PS1s, and from Sofia Coppola's LV duffel bags. All of these bags are the ones on constant rotation on Garance, The Sartorialist and Jak & Jil, and for good reason. The fashion world is enamoured. Who is to say in a few years what will happen to these bags if - like the chloe paddington, the fendi spy and the balenciaga city - they too will fade into oblivion? Who is to say what the trends will be in a few short years? People always talk about investment buys - but really things that are classic are subject to the tastes of those who compile those lists of classics. The army jacket will not always be a classic, but it is a current classic. When it comes to bags, buy it if you like it, you want it, and you'll wear it. Don't worry if, in 20 years, you think you'll never wear it again. To be honest, you probably won't wear anything you have now in 20 years.

Fashion editors are saying that this season has seen the "death" of the it bag. Well, if the street-style sites are anything to go by, the it bag is alive and well, it just has a new label. 

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wear the pants



It's a testament to a good photo - and a great pair of pants - that Vanessa Jackman makes me want to get my legs into a pair of trousers, stat. I am a skirt girl through and through, but after seeing such a host of leggy girls traipse through Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in a variety of heart-palpitating inducing pants, it's almost enough to turn me. Vanessa's photos just might tip the balance. I love the drapey, slouchiness of the first girl's black tapered number. I loooove that deep, indigo blue of the second girl's jeans. That army green on the third girl is my favourite colour, the perfect foil to grey and lace. And the fourth girl's simple black straight legs are a basic often underestimated today. I used to have these fantasies of being an Audrey Hepburn-esque character in Funny Face, all black cords and black boatnecks, but then realising I had neither the grace nor the body of Audrey I was quickly dissuaded. Skirts seemed and easier option - even when you wear them at a midi length like I do. However seeing all these pictures is changing my mind, I think. There are many different ways to wear pants, and Vanessa is showing me the way!

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ready to EAT


One of my most cherished memories of London was going to the Pret-A-Portea at the Berkeley Hotel. My mum had heard about it in one of her cooking magazines and knew that it was right up my alley - combining pastry and afternoon tea with fashion fashion fashion. I loved biting into a little YSL le smoking biscuit, and a petit four in the shape of a hermes birkin. It was fun and frivolous and set in the surrounds of one of the worlds most beautifully designed hotels - visit the blue bar if you don't believe me, it redefines the word 'exquisite' - it was incredible. On Mastchef on Sunday the contestants had to 'invent' a pastry inspired by the imperial crown to become part of the Langham's historic High Tea presentation, voted best in London. But my mum and I thought, I guess they haven't been to the Berkeley. Because that afternoon trumps them all (and trust me, we've had a lot of afternoon teas). And seeing the pictures of the new season 'collection' for the afternoon tea is making my mouth water. A chanel Clog cake, Erdem dress biscuit and paul smith pannacotta... The only thing better would be the real deal, methinks.

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all natural





1 - the sartorialist
2- tumblr - dion lee rings top left, terry biviano shoes for dion lee bottom left.

My jewellery philosophy has always been to pile it on - the more the merrier. Nowadays I have been playing favourites with my more natural jewellery, that is, things like my twisted cage necklace by the manimania with a big hunk of quartz in the middle, or my YSL jade ring I bought in new york that has a flaw in the middle of the stone but that I love all the more for it. Flaws are what make these kind of pieces, that is, jewellery that comes from natural crystals, all the more interesting. No two rings are the same. Every single one is unique and different. I like rings that mould to the contours of your fingers, necklaces that drip with raw edged quartz the colour of fairy floss and cuffs that look like crystal castles. 

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shoes glorious shoes



There were so many things that were good about the Alexander Wang Spring/Summer 2010 show. The plaited side hair that spawned a million hair extensions, the knee high ankle socks that takes us all back to school days, the 'sports-gal' meets 'army-chick' fashion that mixed khaki trench-coats with itty bitty grey marle rugby shorts and sports jerseys with big shoulder pads like a linebacker. "Varsity Pin Up" was Style.com's words for the show, I thought you could have called it "hipster takes the field". I loved how he took the all american ideas of sportswear and turned it into high fashion. Or as high-enough fashion as the lower east side, which is where the vast bulk of alexander wang girls live, stomping around in corseted sweatshirts and drop crotch track suit pants. 

Another great thing about this season were the shoes. The Freja Boots - named after model Freja Beha Erichsen, that androgynous slip of a thing who is apparently Wang's current muse - are incredibly hip. Hip because they have a mirrored heel, a double front zip, a leather fold over, a deep peep toe and a lace that ties the whole thing together. Hip because they just combine every single trend known to mankind, and because they add a little downtown cool to any outfit.  I bought these shoes today for a bargainous steal, and they are not even my normal style or something I would wear, but they are just... INCREDIBLE. I can't stop looking at my feet. They are insane! They turn all my outifts from dowdy into, well, cool. Mine have stripes running down the side, and they contrast so beautifully against my checked skirt. I already have outfits in mind - i think they will be the perfect foil to a long, dowdy a line skirt and my simple bonds sweatshirt with a belted swing coat over the top. I just want to go out now! I want to go out somewhere fabulous and wear my new heels!

Garance Dore once said that she liked to keep her new shoes on her desk the night after she buys them. Right now, sitting in front of the 7 pm project, I have these shoes on my feet. Just chilling. I don't think I'll ever take them off. 

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BFF






pictures in no particular order - garance dore, the sartorialist, tommy ton for jak and jil, tommy ton for style.com, all the pretty birds, peter stitger, stockholm street style. 


I just cannot get enough of this trio. None of them have a style that is any way shape or form similar to mine, and at the heart of it I don't think that I love pictures of them because of their style. I love to see pictures of them because they are friends - Best Friends (Forever) - and they are always smiling. Yes its Anna Della Russo and yes, she's wearing the new season Prada shoes, and yes, Viviana has a Celine bag that retailed for more than my computer, and yes, Aurora has the most amazing collection of jackets known to mankind... but what I really love about these pictures is the happiness that comes out of them. They are always smiling, wide, happy smiles. They make me happy just looking at them - and it helps that they always wear bright colour. You can't be sad wearing bright colour. They are very Italian, very extravagant and eye-catching, but there is also a simplicity to these pictures too. They are friends. They happen to work together - and they happen to work together in fashion - but at the heart of it they are just friends. 

And what I love about this group of friends - Anna, Viviana Volcipella and Aurora Sansone (what beautiful names!) - is that even though Anna is technically their boss and even though Anna is a fashion Queen, it never looks like they are trying to "out-fash" each other. It never looks forced and it never looks like a competition. Sometimes with friends you can find them competing for looks and bags and shoes... Not with these three. And not with my friends. We've found ourselves in positions where we've bought the same item of clothing, or bought something that the other wanted first, but since we all have such different styles we wear them all in different ways. We never look like a "pack" when we go out together, we never look like we've all gone shopping together at Sportsgirl for out outfits. We are individuals, and friends, at the same time. You can see that in the picture where Viviana and Aurora are both wearing leopard print coats. They wear them completely differently - I love the flash of denim and red poking out of Viviana's. Aurora is much more classic with her 2.55 miniature. They all bought the prada chandelier shoes, but you can see that those shoes mean a variety of things to each woman. That's exactly what I think my friends and I are like. We are so close, and yet so different at the same time. That's what makes it work, I think. 

When I started to put this post together I initially intended to just show you the Garance Dore pics with those incredible prada shoes. But i got carried away when searching for pictures of the three and ended up with these collages. I can't explain it, but they are infectious in their energy and colour and vibrancy. I've never been a huge fan of Anna Dello Russo, but seeing her with Viviana and Aurora has made me re-evaluate how I think about her. She just really loves fashion. And she loves her friends. And you can tell that from every picture. When i said the pictures are infectious, I really mean it. I defy you not to have a smile across your face! I really feel that this kind of Italian style is the most underrated - that colourful, over the top, in your face happiness. It really jumps off the page and engages far more than their French counterparts - classic, elegant dressing has nothing on an Italian smile. I used to frantically refresh Tommy Ton and Garance for pictures of Taylor Tomasi and Yasmin Sewell, but now I think I've got some new faces to watch. It's not even for the clothes - although they are fabulous - but for the energy that they have. You rarely get that from fashion people, especially during the gruelling fashion weeks. 

These pictures make me want to wear colour, eat spaghetti and drink lots and lots of red wine. And they make me want to do all these things with my friends. 

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glass houses





1: Kate Moss for YSL Spring/Summer 2008 ads
2: Patricia van der Vliet in 'The Bright Side' in Vogue US July 2010 shot by Raymond Meier, styled by Elissa Santisi

If the 'Bright Side' editorial in this month's Vogue US is anything to go by, it seems that in fashion one of the most enduring concerns is being on the outside looking in. A gorgeous Patricia van der Vliet reclines on lounges, tries on dresses and struts across her appartment and we see her only through the glass windows and doors. We are observers only. This reminded me instantly of the Yves Saint Laurent ads from 2008 that featured Kate Moss in the various new season fashions, trying desperately to get into the YSL boutique in Paris. We see her through the glass double doors of the shop, banging on windows, rattling door knobs and peering in.

I always wonder how you can get to the inside if you are different, if you don't have the right hair, the right boyfriend, the right shoes... In the September Issue Documentary Anna Wintour mused that fashion can seem scary to some people. She argued that it is the unknown that scares them, they fear what they don't understand. I think there is a little bit more than that. At the heart of it, at least for me, the scariest thing about fashion is the exclusivity, the barrier that is erected between 'the plebs' and 'the editors'. Is it possible to break it down? Should we? With more and more fashion blogs and more and more fashion journalism coming from the ground up instead of the other way round what will happen to Fashion's scions of exclusivity and singularity? Can fashion exist if it is universal, or must there be some distinction between the magazine editors who decide the trends and the people who merely wear them? 

Or, despite everything, despite every street-style blog, ever citizen journalist, every documentary and reality tv show, will fashion forever be housed in a glass house and we, the outsiders, forever be looking in? If that is the case, at least in a glass house you can see through, undistorted, to the clothes. Thank god for small mercies.

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fur thoughts



If I was to have a fur coat - which is a moot point considering it never gets cold enough in Sydney for a duffel coat, let alone a fur one - but if I was, for arguments sake, to get one, I'd want one just like Carrie's. That collar is absolutely perfect - big and wide and perfect for drawing up around your neck in the cold or letting hang off your shoulders, cape-like. I like that this fur coat would pop up in the series at the most unexpected times. When Carrie was going to the baseball game and didn't want to be under-dressed in case she ran into Big - just add cocktail dress and heels. When she went shopping and returned home to find the Senator on her door step - just add pearls and girlie gingham. In the final episode, in the final scene, when we finally learn Big's name (John, of course!) - just add, well, everything you can imagine, Neon, peep toe, full skirts, tulle, studded belt, and a manolo blahnik bag. I love how Carrie seemed to run around in this fur coat in the mythical New York winters - where it was cold enough for fur, but not enough to wear tights. I hate tights myself, so I am quite fond of this idea. Having experienced a real New York winter I know it's manifestly ludicrous, but it's certainly a nice idea. 

People always talk about how you can wear an item dressed up and dressed down. Well, you can never dress down a fur coat. But who cares, really? If you didn't want glamour, why are you wearing one in the first place? I'm not sure how I feel yet about fur. I don't have a problem with eating meat or wearing leather, so I'm not sure that I should, logically, have a problem with fur. But so far all I can bring myself to buy is the fake stuff. I'm just not sure, which probably means I need to write a pro/con list or have a good natter about it with my sister, who has the answer to every question. But.. and this is a big but. I do like this fur coat. In fact, I love it. It's fabulous! And since Sex and the City first introduced that word to my vocabulary, I think it's reasonable that I use it here. 

What are your thoughts on fur? 

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walk like an egyptian

"Our new range is called DUST and it was inspired by David Bowie's alleged interest in Egyptology and Occultism. We loved this image of Bowie dressed in a sphinx costume shot in 1969 and it pretty much went from there. We wanted the range to look like it belonged to Egyptian royalty, excavated from a tomb, earthy but also quite luxurious.... So we've used raw crystal stones and motifs like hieroglyphics, eyes and snakes in the beaten metal pieces."

Tamila Purvis and Melanie Kemsler of THEMANIAMANIA


Images: range from Edwardian and 1930s archaeologists including Howard Carter on digs to Modern day Cairo via Indiana Jones, Elizabeth Taylor, the Mummy and David Bowie. 


I have always, always, always been fascinated and enraptured by Egypt. I can even remember the exact day. Year 2, our first taste of history, studies of Ancient Egypt. We looked at things like mummies, Nefertiti, scarab beetles, enough turquoise to turn your eyes blue and my mum told me that Ancient Egyptians used to tread things like the common cold with panther poo infusions. I was completely in awe. This civilisation is magnificent. Splendour, would be an apt word. There was gold and pyramids - oh! pyramids at age 8 are something marvellous indeed - and huge sphinxes and weird cultural practices and tombs full of treasure ripe for the picking. The first nightmare I can remember happened after I read a book all about Howard Carter's famed discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. The first 'grown up' film I can remember seeing was Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. I read, NO, I devoured the Cairo Jim books. Aged 9 all I wanted to be was an archeologist.

Today I've got a little bit more of a balanced mind. I know that there is much more to archaeology than cracking a whip and riding off into the sunset - but by that same token Indy had it right when he challenged the grave robbers "it belongs in a museum. I love watching films like The Mummy, Troy, Gladiator, Cleopatra... Not because they are inherently good films - although Cleopatra certainly knows how to put on a good show - but because they take you back somewhere, maybe not back into the past, but somewhere mythical and magical where history - a film-maker's history - comes alive and you can drink and walk and talk and see what the Ancient Egyptians saw for 2 hours or so. I am a history major, and have recently ended up in lots of medieval and early modern europe classes that I forgot just how much I love Ancient Egypt. I think next semester I'm going to enrol in a few classics classes (anyone remember that time last year when I had read The Secret History and wanted to take up Ancient Greek? well, i think this is a little more achievable than that). Who knows. I might learn something!

Tamila Purvis and Melanie Kemsler of The ManiaMania, who I have a great respect for, are basing their next collection on Ancient Egypt, filtered through David Bowie and Cleopatra (seen above). One can only expect that their natural, roughly-hewn aesthetic will easily adapt to things like turquoise, shining gold chokers and kohl-lined eyes. It is a logical progression to move from the 60s and 70s American Indian motifs of their current collection to something more historical, more earthy, more ancient. The idea that the jewellery could have been sourced from tombs themselves, as if Howard Carter (or indeed, Indiana Jones, or Rick O'Connell, natch) had reached in and pulled a cuff, dusty and sand-entombed, to see the light of day. It's certainly dramatic and powerful. In my mind's eye I'm seeing things like pyramid rings, rough and raw, cut out of hunks of sandstone and amulets in flawed jade with the eye of horus. I can't wait to see what they come up with. If it's anything as wonderful as the jewellery in Cleopatra - think blood red rubies and gold-feathered head pieces - It will be something truly magical indeed.

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